I am bound to go to Earthbound Farms cafe again

This past week my family took a vacation to Carmel, which is located in Monterey County. Even our dog Bagel came with us.  I was happy about where we stayed because our room had an outdoor wraparound deck and two TV’s, one in the living area where me and my brother slept and on in my mom and dad’s room. I had some great dinners while in Carmel and at one restaurant we even got our own personal menu. That’s a little sneak peek for my next post. On the the breakfast front, we ended up having cereal every single day except for one day I had Chilaquiles. And to make the breakfast situation even more boring, I had cereal the day before we left for our vacation. Not exactly my type of luxury or vacation behavior.

But, to be fair, I was eating a lot of dessert on vacation. On Tuesday I had s’mores. On Wednesday I had chocolate cake and sorbet. And on the Friday before vacation I ate lollipops and a sundae to celebrate the end of the school year. So it was clear I wasn’t getting much healthy stuff. I had to get some healthier food.

So, I knew I had to get vegetables into the cycle. Actually it was my mom who wanted me to but I was ok with that too. Imagine a pre-teen wanting to eat VEGETABLES! For most of them it’s just unrealistic! Catastrophic! But not for me. As you know, if you are a regular reader, I like a lot of vegetables. But what I do think is that parents will have to learn that their kids will make their own decisions someday. Kids aren’t always going to live with their parents. But if you want to create good habits then now is the time so they have these habits when they are older. And what I’m trying to say is that it is not just about vegetables. It’s about lots of other things parents say that their kids can’t do! Just do the right things when kids are young and trust them to make decisions on their own. That is what I think.

So this is my long way of eventually sharing that I got some good vegetables into the rotation by going somewhere I am excited to tell you about.

Earthbound Farm’s Farm Stand is a market/cafe where you can eat and buy food. It is a really popular stop-by place for long drives as well as for people who live in the area. They have sandwiches and salads and smoothies. Wow. I just realized as I was writing this that sandwiches, salads, and smoothies all start with the letter S. The three S’s. Maybe there are three people who own it named Mo, Larry, and Curly. As in the S being Stooges. Anyway, when we got to Earthbound Farms they had a make your own salad bar. We decided to make one of those and get a smoothie.

I got a salad with wild arugula for my lettuce and started loading up on the goodies. I got broccoli. Then two little pieces of tofu. Hard boiled eggs. Sweet peppers. And so on. The salad had a great combo of broccoli and and carrot shreds. I had a pretty good salad when I was done. And did I mention that everything is organic? I walked to the smoothie bar and ordered a smoothie with coconut milk, banana, blueberries, and chia seeds. Everything was excellent. The smoothie I loved and I could really taste the banana and blueberry combination.

They also have a huge garden in which there is a labyrinth of chamomile. I never knew what a labyrinth was until I came here. It’s a big maze in which you try to get to the middle. My brother liked it too.

At one point I as sitting on a bench watching nature when a bee landed on me. I recalled hearing I should leave the bee alone so it wouldn’t bother me, but last year in school I hit a bee off somebody’s hand. So I was about to hit the bee when another bee landed on me! At that point, I just relaxed and waited for the bees to fly away. They did.

This place has great food but it is also really fun to visit because you can check out the gardens. There are herb gardens, a kids’ garden, a kitchen garden and much more.

Anyway, I loved this place so much I went two days in a row! You’ve got to try this place out. You’ll love it so much you’ll want to go three days in a row.